Bald Cypress trees at the Guadalupe River State Park.
Quality woods growing in our area include soft woods like Bald Cypress and Southern Pine, and hard woods like Live Oak and Water Oak.
But some plants on the Texas Gulf Coast are intriguing but useless.
There is the Chinese Tallow, a decorative but much-maligned invasive species that some believe outnumbers every other species of tree in the Houston area. There are wild roses growing on our property, with white flowers, a trunk as thick as a man’s thigh, and thorns nearly two inches long. There are the trees with my favorite name: the “Hercules Club.” I love the name, but the tree is only slightly less difficult than the wild roses—because it too is covered with spikes and thorns.
And finally, there are the Mustang Grapes. These wild grapes can quickly take over everything, and I seem to be cutting them back every year. Grapes begin as soft little vines, curly tendrils reaching out and grabbing anything for support. But if you ignore the vine for a year or two, it will thicken and develop a dark brown bark, a sort of crumbly shell. You can easily cut it with small tools and watch the water drip from it like a straw that never dries out.
The vine wood, if it can be called ‘wood’ at all, remains super-soft, and those who have saved it report that when it dries, cracks open along the grain. Even the thickest grape vine “wood” will never be strong enough to use as wood. It is good for nothing but to be “cut down and thrown into the fire” Matthew 7:19.
Because people have been working with wood since Noah built the ark, God often compares his people to trees and wood. Specifically, scripture compares trees to people, households, and bloodlines.[1]
The book of Psalms opens by praising the man who delights in the law of the Lord:
“He will be like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does, he prospers” Psalm 1:3.
The prophet Jeremiah extends this hopeful metaphor:
The one who trusts in the Lord “will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its root by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes. Its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit” Jeremiah 17:8.
God gives Ezekiel a different message. Because the Hebrew people have dedicated themselves to idolatry, God compares them not to a quality wood, but to the wood of a grape vine:
“Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than that of any of the trees of the forest? Is wood ever taken from the vine to make anything useful? Do they make pegs from the vine on which to hang any vessel? And after it is thrown on the fire as fuel, is it useful for anything? … Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and set my face against them. Thus I will make the land desolate, BECAUSE THEY HAVE ACTED UNFAITHFULLY” Ezekiel 15:2-7.
God gives you a choice. You can be a tree planted by streams of water, a solid cypress tree, whose leaf does not wither and who bears fruit every season. A tree impervious to droughts and untouched by fire. Or you can be unfaithful to God and watch your entire life amount to a crushed bit of woody vine, good for nothing but to be thrown into the fire.
Dear God, make our lives count. Keep us on a short leash. Keep a tight reign on us so we obey you, walk in the word, pray without ceasing, and live for you. May we abide in you and our lives bear fruit, year-in, year-out.
AΩ.
[1] https://mycharismashop.com/blogs/latest-news/why-are-people-compared-to-trees-in-scripture#:~:text=In%20Scripture%2C%20trees%20have%20always,whatsoever%20he%20doeth%20shall%20prosper.
Household Words: 